orchids and orchidology in central america. 500 ... - lankesteriana.org

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Paul C. Standley and the Central American floras
“When we remember the incredible number of
seeds produced by orchids, we wonder only that
they do not dominate vegetation everywhere in
the Tropics.”
Paul C. Standley (1925: 377)
Paul Carpenter Standley (1884-1963) (Fig. 53A),
botanist of the U. S. National Museum, arrived at the
port city of La Libertad, El Salvador, on December 19,
1921. Thus arrived for the first time in Central America
the man who was probably the most important figure in
the history of botanical exploration of the region during
the first half of the XX century. In a conversation with
Otón Jiménez, Pittier said: “Much can be expected
from such a young and capable element” (Jiménez,
1963: 2). For over forty years, Standley collected
intensively in all of the countries of Central America
and published a series of fundamental works about
their floras. He acquired an intimate knowledge about
the region, not only about its botanical aspects, but also
about its culture and traditions. He was a friend of all
Central American scientists of his time and contributed
like no other person to further the study and research
among the local naturalists and collectors, contributing
to the development of the existing herbaria and to
the creation of many new ones. “...Standley hoped
that every Central American country would have a
botanical library adequate for the study of its flora,
and a comprehensive herbarium, formed by local
collectors” (McCook, 1999: 119).
Standley was an indefatigable worker. “Nothing
interrupted his work when he collected, except for the
few seconds he needed to light a new cigarette on the
butt of the old one” (Jiménez, 1963: 4). As a collector
he was able to amass collections of hundreds of plants
in only a few days and as a writer he produced more
publications about the flora of Central America than
any other botanist before or after him. “He spoke good
Spanish and wrote even better in Latin…” (Heckadon-
Moreno, 1998: 167). He had a devilish work schedule
of 12 to 14 hours a day, never married and was a
chain-smoker: thus he spent his life. Standley’s Trees
and Shrubs of Mexico (1920-1926) is still one of the
most important books on the subject, a publication
“that alone exceeded the lifetime achievement of most
botanists” (Williams, 1963: 27).
LANKESTERIANA
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
Standley published a short article in 1924 (‘The
Republic of El Salvador’), but the Lista preliminar
de las plantas de El Salvador (Standley & Calderón,
1925) was Standley’s first work about Central
American flora. Published together with Dr. Salvador
Calderón (1879-1940), the list was based on more than
4,600 specimens that Standley and Calderón collected
over a period of five months, from December 1921 to
May 1922 (with the help of Dr. José Ma. Carrillo) and
described more than 2,000 plants, including 63 species
of orchids distributed in 28 genera. Among them we
find Corymborkis forcipigera (Rchb. f. & Warsz.) L.
O. Wms. (Standley 20132 – Ahuachapán), Cattleya
aurantiaca (Bateman ex Lindl.) P. N. Don (Standley
19977 – Ahuachapán) and Barkeria obovata (C. Presl.)
Christenson (Standley 19429 – San Salvador). During
the following decades, Standley returned often to El
Salvador, where he had doctor Mario Levy van Severen
as assistant and companion. Van Severen prepared a
personal orchid herbarium that was later sent to Louis
O. Williams and is now deposited at ‘El Zamorano’,
in Honduras. Salvador Calderón (Fig. 53B) continued
with Standley’s work and to his efforts we owe the
creation of the Salvadorian Herbarium, housed in the
Salvadorian Directorate of Agriculture. This herbarium
comprised, in 1922, over 2,000 collections of local
plants. The genus Calderonia, from the family of the
Rubiaceae, was dedicated by Standley to Dr. Calderón.
As in all works written by Standley, it was Oakes Ames
who identified the species of Orchidaceae contained
in this list. While in El Salvador, Standley went to
Guatemala (1922), from where we have his collection
of Pleurothallis purpusii Schlechter (Standley 23901).
Standley had his first experience with the orchids of
Panama in the years of 1912-1914, when, as an assistant
to Pittier, he was in charge of the classification and
identification of the plants collected during the great
expedition of the Smithsonian. Therefore, when the
Governor of the Canal Zone wrote to the Secretary of
Agriculture of the United States in 1921, asking for the
best expert in tropical plants to prepare a book about
the vegetation of the canal, Standley seemed to be the
most logical choice (Heckadon Moreno, 1998: 167).
Standley arrived in Panama in November of 1923
and in the following five months collected 7,500
plant specimens in the Canal Zone. On January
17, 1924 and during a week in November of 1925